Christmas is stressful. Buying gifts, wrapping presents, grocery shopping, traveling… it is all so exhausting. You may spend so much time and effort preparing for the holidays that you don’t have much time and effort left to enjoy it. But what if that all changed? What if this holiday brought you a sense of joy,…

It’s easy to lose the meaning of Christmas amidst the holiday images that permeate our culture. What if there was more to Christmas than this? What if the true meaning of Christmas could leave you in awe of your Savior… the one whose mother was a virgin, who was born in a stable, and who is fully God yet fully man? Isaiah foretold His coming, and you can rest assured that Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection means that your victory starts now. Sermon Text: Isaiah 42:1-8

Sometimes, when you watch the news, you probably think that the world is a pretty dark place. What if there was a light in the darkness? Jesus is that light. Isaiah explains that Jesus brings comfort and hope to the world, paying for all sins and bringing the good news of salvation to all people.…

What if God removed despair, mourning, and sadness from us? What if, in its place, we had never-ending joy? Isaiah explains that God sent Jesus to earth to do just this. We can find joy, even in times of sadness, because of the promise of eternity we have through Jesus’ defeat of sin. Isaiah 61:1-3

Christmas is a time when people think about and long for peace—in their own lives, in the world around us. Yet, no matter how many Christmases go by, peace continues to elude us. At least, when we’re looking for a worldly kind of peace. Christmas is truly good news, because it’s a message of true peace, peace with God and peace within ourselves. Isaiah 52:7-10

Through this series we’ve come to see what we really need: a wake-up call, the honest truth and a savior. But today we’ll see that not just any savior will do. This world, including us, is broken beyond repair—human repair. We need a Savior who can fix us. We need God himself. Isaiah 9:2-7

A wake-up call and the honest truth about ourselves—yes, we NEED these things; but, man, the truth is more than a little oppressive. What we need now is a little hope, a little help. Maybe more than a little help. We need deliverance. We need a savior! Isaiah 61:1-3, 10, 11

It’s just human to view our situation from our own vantage point. Yet, our vantage point is skewed. Of course, we’re going to want to think that we’re right, that our motives are pure, that we’ve got the other person in mind. We need a mirror that will show us what we really need to see—the truth. We need someone who loves us enough to be honest with us. Isaiah 40:1-11

The story of God’s people is like a broken record. All throughout the ages, again and again we forget who we are. We get distracted. Life and sin is a raging river that sweeps us up and carries us along. We need God to rend the heavens like he’s done so many times before, to come down, shake us up and wake us up (before it’s too late!) We need some tough love. Isaiah 63:16b,17; 64:1-8